


Undersell, Overdeliver

by Wonko



Category: Holby City
Genre: Birthday Cake, Birthday Fluff, Did I mention fluff?, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 20:45:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14245389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonko/pseuds/Wonko
Summary: It's Jason's birthday. He's only mentioned it a dozen times. Bernie offers to make a cake, much to Serena's surprise.





	Undersell, Overdeliver

**Author's Note:**

  * For [len1985](https://archiveofourown.org/users/len1985/gifts).



> A birthday prompt from my bud len1985, who requested 'domestic fluff' and 'birthday'.

“It’s my birthday in six weeks,” Jason said at the end of February.

“Okay,” Bernie replied. Jason nodded.

*

“It’s my birthday next month,” Jason casually mentioned as he and Serena walked out of the hospital one day in March.

“I know,” Serena said brightly. “Still after a tweet from Mary Beard?”

“If you can manage it.”

Serena smiled.

*

“It’s my birthday on Saturday,” Jason said while Bernie was hunting for the remote to turn off the TV before The One Show theme started blaring.

“Is it? You should have said.” 

Jason frowned. “I believe I’ve said it repeatedly.”

“Don’t tease, darling,” Serena called absently from the kitchen, over the sound of the dishwasher being loaded.

Bernie laughed. “All right. Don’t worry Jason, we haven’t forgotten your birthday.”

*

That night in bed, after they’d tired each other out in a couple of very pleasant ways, Serena brushed Bernie’s hair away from her face and smiled. “So what are we going to do for his birthday then?”

Bernie raised herself up onto her elbow. “Tweet from Mary Beard, cake and a Star Wars marathon?”

“Sounds good.” She inclined her head. “I mean, the Star Wars marathon sounds horrendous, but I suppose I can make the sacrifice.”

“Well, you’ll be at work until five so it’ll be  _ me _ that makes the sacrifice. We’ll have got through the prequels by the time you get home.” Bernie lay back down and wrapped her arm round Serena’s shoulders, tugging a little until her partner laid her head on her shoulder with a little purr of satisfaction.

“Well, I never thought I’d be glad of a shift without you.”

Bernie let out a brief snort of amusement then pressed a kiss to Serena’s forehead. “And I’ll make a cake.”

That made Serena look up. “You bake?”

Bernie shrugged. “How hard can it be?”

*

The next day, while Bernie was in surgery, Serena went online and ordered a cake from a bakery a mile from the hospital.

_ Just in case, _ she told herself to assuage her guilt.  _ She’ll probably be glad of it. _

*

> **mary beard** **@** wmarybeard ⠂Apr 7
> 
> @BGWolfe @JasonTHaynes Happy Birthday to a very devoted history buff indeed. (You can tell your aunt to stop tweeting me now.)

Bernie printed the tweet and stuck it into Jason’s card with a glue stick. 

*

Jason glanced up at Serena who was preparing the traditional Haynes family breakfast of streaky bacon, scrambled eggs, toast and baked beans. She dished up three plates, minus the beans for Bernie who had declared she’d sworn off them for good after twenty-five years of Army rations that always seemed to involve a can of over-sugared, tomato sauce covered legumes.

“Thanks Auntie Serena,” Jason said politely, cutting his bacon into small squares and arranging bite sized pieces of egg, toast, bacon and beans together on the plate.

“Yes, thanks darling,” Bernie murmured round a mouthful of her own food. By the time Jason was ready to eat, Bernie had cleaned her plate and was heading to the coffee machine to fill Serena’s thermos mug in time to see her off.

“And you don’t mind baking a cake,” Serena said on the doorstep after her goodbye kiss. 

Bernie smiled and held up her pinky to link with Serena’s. “For the tenth time, it’s fine,” she said. “Pinky promise. Have a good day, darling.”

*

In the end, Serena spent most of the day in surgery and had to send a terrified looking F1 out to pick up the backup cake. She took a quick look at it in the boot of her car after the end of her shift and smiled. It looked great. Very professional, with Jason’s name neatly lettered, and a design of lightsabers, rebel alliance symbols and stars set against a deep blue background.

She left it on the hall table after she let herself in and kicked off her shoes. She hung her coat in the hall cupboard and headed to the living room where she could hear the credits of what she really hoped was  _ Revenge of the Sith _ playing on the surround sound system they’d bought Jason for his birthday and which he’d spent a happy hour hooking up that morning, according to Bernie’s text messages.

“Hello my darlings,” she said with a bright smile as she opened the living room door.

“Auntie Serena!” Jason exclaimed. “Excellent. We can have cake now.” He frowned. “Bernie said we had to wait for you, even though it’s not  _ your _ birthday.”

Serena barely heard him. She was too busy staring at the cake. It was perfect. The sponge was perfectly risen and golden brown, sandwiched with jam and fresh cream and covered with a light dusting of icing sugar. It was sitting proudly on Serena’s glass cake stand in the middle of the coffee table. Serena blinked, then looked at Bernie.

“You can bake,” she said stupidly, and Bernie grinned.

“It’s not difficult,” she said.

Serena blinked again. “Uhm...you know, I think I forgot something in the car. Be right back.”

Grabbing the shop-bought cake from the hall table, she quickly shoved her shoes back on and hurried towards the car. 

_ Well,  _ she thought.  _ If I scrape the lettering off, I’m sure I can find some takers on the ward on Monday. _

Once Jason had tolerated having Happy Birthday sung to him in a perfect contralto - Serena - and by someone who could just about carry a tune given a big enough bucket - Bernie - he cut the cake and dished it up onto three plates, reserving half for after they’d got through  _ Rogue One _ and  _ A New Hope _ , which was all he thought they’d manage that night. 

Bernie cut off a small piece and held it out for Serena to taste. She moaned in surprised pleasure as her lips closed over the fork.

“Perfect,” she said, savouring the lightness of the sponge and the freshness of the cream. It really was good.

Bernie flushed with pleasure. “I’m glad you like it.”

Serena’s eyes softened. “I wasn’t talking about the cake.”

Bernie’s lips curled up in a small smile that quickly grew into a full blown grin. “I love you,” she said.

Serena leaned forward and kissed her partner’s still smiling mouth. “I love you too.”

*

That night in bed, Bernie was sitting up with her laptop, checking the online banking and transferring data onto her own budgeting software. Serena had asked what the benefit of this was, given the online banking kept records of everything, but Bernie had mumbled something about her software having more features. “It makes pie charts,” she’d said, and Serena had just smiled indulgently and let her get on with it.

“Serena,” she said. “What’s this £45 charge from Holby City Bakery?”

Beside her, Serena screwed her eyes shut and pretended to be asleep.


End file.
